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Monday, October 7, 2013

Vatican
City, 7 October 2013 (VIS) – On Tuesday 8 October the official
medal of the first year of Pope Francis' pontificate will be made
available for sale. It was coined by the Polygraphic Institute and
the Italian State Mint in gold, silver and bronze, with a diameter of
forty-four millimetres, and the image it depicts is the work of the
artist Mariangela Crisciotti.

The
obverse depicts the Pope and, on the right hand side, the signature
of the artist. Around the image there is the phrase “FRANCISCUS
PONT. MAX. AN. I”. The rim of the reverse side bears the phrase
which profoundly affected the young Jorge Mario Bergoglio when, at
the age of seventeen, he received his call from God: “VIDIT ERGO
JESUS PUBLICANUM ET QUIA MISERANDO ANTQUE ELIGENDO VIDIT, AIT ILLI
SEQUERE ME”.

Around
the edge there is the phrase “E CIVITATE VATICANA” and the number
of the medal.

Each
exemplar shall be accompanied by a guarantee certificate stamped by
the Secretariat of State and the Italian State Mint.

Four
hundred triptychs will be coined, along with two hundred exemplars in
gold, three thousand in silver and three thousand in bronze, all of
which will be numbered.

The
medals will be on sale at the Administration of the Patrimony of the
Apostolic See (APSA) in Vatican City, and at the Vatican Publishing
House at St. Peter's Square, Pius XII Square, and Via di Propaganda,
4.